NOTE: Please do not, under any circumstances, share IMAGES OR VIDEOS from Beta in this or any public Forum thread. Violations can cause players to lose their Beta accounts, or threads to be closed down.
This thread is to provide early insights and discussion on the February 2020 HOTM, Jean-François.
Click for Mostly Useless Information from Beta
Don’t get too attached
Details from beta, especially brand-new beta content, don’t tend to be very reliable for actual hero release.
It’s incredibly common that heroes are changed during beta testing, or sometimes even after testing but before release. That is, after all, the purpose of beta testing.
So I wouldn’t get too attached to any of this — it’s not unheard of for entire portions of skills to be removed or reworked, or for radical changes to stats to be made.
Jean-François Beta Info & Stats
Attack: 737
Defense: 723
HP: 1332
Class: Wizard
Resist: Health Steal Ailments – The Hero has an innate ability to resist status ailments that Steal Health.
Element: Fire/Red
Mana Speed: Fast
Special Skill: Seal of Fire
All enemies receive 604 302 Burn damage over 4 2 turns.
All allies get +94% defense against Ice for 4 turns.
All allies get Defense Status Ailment Protection for 4 turns. New status ailments affecting defense will be replaced by +42% defense for 4 turns.
Element Link gives all Fire allies +10% critical chance for 6 turns. This effect can’t be dispelled.
Avoiding Overspending & Heartache
Or: How many summons are needed to get a HOTM?
Special thanks to @Garanwyn for assistance on summoning odds and proofreading for this section.
It’s important to remember that HOTM have very low summoning odds. No amount of summoning will guarantee a HOTM.
On average, in a 10-pull, you have a 12.3% chance of summoning the HOTM.
But that statistic can lead our minds astray in exactly how our odds play out as we continue summoning.
Some useful insights:
73 times out of 100, you’ll get a HOTM by pull 100
95 times out of 100, you’ll get a HOTM by pull 229
99 times out of 100, you’ll get a HOTM by pull 352
Putting that in Perspective
27 out of every 100 people won’t get the HOTM by the 100th pull
If 1 Million players each summoned 100 times, 270,000 of those players wouldn’t get the HOTM
5 out of every 100 people won’t get the HOTM by the 229th pull
If 1 Million players each summoned 229 times, 50,000 of those players wouldn’t get the HOTM
More Insights & Reading
I highly recommend reading these two threads for more information and context on summoning odds:
If you’ve read them a million times before, you may consider reading them again before deciding on your budget for summoning. A little time spent deciding on how much money you want to risk on summoning goes a long way to avoiding disappointment, frustration, and regret later.
For a full list of items currently in beta testing, as well as their related threads, please see:
They tried 94% before at average mana and only for nearby. Had to nerf it down after release(her name was guinevere btw and yes it was pointed out in beta and ignored, let’s not go back down this road SG…) And that was pre wars era. In wars this guy will be a nightmare. Especially if elemental debuffs are included in his protect bs
Learn from mistakes ffs.
The defense buff vs ice, the burn damage vs all at only 1 tile slower than gravemaker, the double resist
To me, gm seems to be better offensively still, and I agree with rigs that the ice defense needs toned down here.
I’m a bit unsure of this hero… doesn’t pair well with gm in raids, is a wizard, bad class for him, and also not ideal in defense with guin, all dot damage so on offense vs kunchen he’d get the defense up but do no real damage… as a tank… certainly not exciting to face unless you have heal and cleanse ready… he’d most likely be amazing in a 3-1-1 type build… can destroy a team by himself almost, if they don’t have heal or cleanse… interested to see how he evolves… like the defense flip concept, don’t like more boring red burn.
Also… when comparing him to Morgan, Lady Locke and Natalya… I’d say there’s no question that he’s powerful… and most likely too powerful (still think dot needs rethought in this game). Good luck trying to get him right beta friends.
His numbers look great but I wish it had direct damage to one target. Still, since my only red option right now are Elena, Khagan, and Anzogh, this is a much welcome hero for my roster.
Jean does not deal direct damage. He seriously does not need it with that much burn damage to all though. Cleanser mandatory when facing him.
723 defense is decent but not amazing for a tank imo. I’m suspecting that’s why he was given such high ice defense. I have to really play against him more to see how he does in here…
Defense buff is rather interesting, but seems better to me for offense. Great at baiting Kunchen tanks, if you can charge him first. Easily manipulated and dispelled when facing him.
Early thoughts so far but tbh he’s the one that made me scratch my head the most.
He’s billed as a Musketeer Mage, and he definitely looks the part.
Back facing us, you only see the side of his face. Pretty handsome side face, though. Wearing a red musketeer hat, and most of his armor appears to be brown leather (shoulder pads are metal). He’s got an orb of fire in his left hand (bounces like a basketball in the animation) and a rapier in the right. I guess the red cape and orb of fire are the mage-like part of his art.
Honestly, it reminds me of a live version of a red mage in Final Fantasy.
Yes, the protect works against all general and elemental defense debuffs.
Tested it against Arthur and Evelyn. A “protected” message appeared and the hero didn’t get afflicted with the defense down.
In Arthur’s case, it gave my Mitsuko a defense up. Arthur still inflicts damage and the Atk- though.
However, in Evelyn’s case, she actually ends up dispelling the defense buff that is immediately gained too. Makes sense, since the dispel happens last in her skill card, and this is good knowledge to have. I’m assuming the same is true for G. Panther and Frida.
Edit;
I guess I’m so used to the 800+ defense tanks that don’t die to your usual stack but yeah you’re right that it’s still awesome defense and for his speed particularly. Early thoughts as I said, I need to hunt him in raids more (will be easier later once more start updating)
Kikyo, if you have stated using it in raids, how significant is its lack of direct damage?
Sounds more like a defensively geared hero but speed and high attack would suggest plenty of use on offense and titans too, especially with the extra critical chance.
I haven’t yet played with him; I probably will after work. So far, I’ve only messed around with the costume summons, the costume quest, examined the hero abilities, and made sure some base functions still worked in beta. Took me 60 summons to get a 5* costume (Glad it was in beta).
I’ll definitely update once I have some more time to test.
The New defense status ailments being replace by the + defense seems pretty awesome. I already find kunchen annoying that you can’t knock him down a peg and now the whole squad would get it. Thank god they don’t heal anybody.
I do agree that this HotM does not have any really obvious phase of the game where they excel.
Avoiding Overspending & Heartache 
but yeah you’re right that it’s still awesome defense and for his speed particularly. Early thoughts as I said, I need to hunt him in raids more (will be easier later once more start updating)